The Shadows Beyond
by nothost
Summary: Set as an sort of fourth season to Sonic X where Cosmo didn't die, when another human comes over from Earth, he seeks out help for completing his plans. What could he possibly be up to? Meanwhile, Sonic has to face his toughest opponent yet.
1. New Beginings, and New Endings

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story; even the characters that I made up are made up of ideas that Sega came up with to begin with. Although if someone uses the name "Superbion' without my permission, I will be hard on you. No one else uses that name anywhere, so if I find it in a story that I didn't not give an author permission to put him in… Well, you get the idea. Anyway, enjoy the story.

Note: A character in here is called Nothost as well. It's not me in there, but that character is where I got the idea for my name today. Also, this story takes place after the death of dark oak, but I have the regeneration of Cosmo successful, which explains why she is alive at this point of time. Part of the reason why I did this is that I believe that the death of Cosmo was a rushed attempt at ending the show right then, which disappointed quite a bit of fans in the process. PM me if you want to know the other reasons I have chosen to do this.

Superbion was in a bad mood. Why was he in a bad mood? He had been walking through this damn forest for the past 3 days. He had found a stream 4 hours ago, so he wasn't dying of thirst, but having both his arms paralyzed made taking any water with him to drink later was out of the question. He pushed through a tangle of branches, only to have one of them smack him in the face, slamming him on the soft forest ground. He cursed. Having limp arms that couldn't do anything was a pain in the ass sometimes. Oh well, fortunately, he had figured out how to get off the ground without his arms a long time ago. He tried to raise his knees to the highest position and use his back to push off of the ground. To his surprise, he found that something was holding him down. _"What the hell? What is this… root? _

To his horror, he found that he was stuck underneath a tree root. Well, that's not made him horrified. What made him horrified was the knowledge that, before he had tried to pass through the tangle of branches, the tree root was exactly 5 feet away from its current position. _The tree roots can move? Amazing! I just wish I wasn't the one under it. _He struggled, but all his efforts were futile. For whatever reason, the tree refused to let him go.

"_So I'm going to starve to death under a tree huh? What a way to go. I had so many things I wanted to do too. And now I'll never be able to do them."_ Quite a bit of time passed. He felt tired after awhile, but he remained awake.

"_No! I won't die here!"_ He thought as quickly as he could, but most of the plans he had in mind involved having arms, which was out of the question. Finally, sleep overtook him. As he lost consciousness, he swore he saw a figure coming towards him. However, he was too out of it to give it any thought.

"Hurry up will you? I've been here long enough!" Nothost yelled into the speaker.

"Sorry sir, we're doing our best here you know! But it takes a real long time to make a spaceship with decent hyper drive capabilities."

"So you Cybrans keep on telling me." One more word out of you Krevax and I'll throw you off a cliff like Baran.

Krevax swallowed. After hanging Baran from a rope over a cliff for 30 minutes, Nothost cut the rope and watched him plummet to his demise. Being short and stubby insect-like creatures, Cybrans had an extreme fear of heights, and Nothost knew it. "Yes sir."

"Get back to work." Nothost dismissed him.

"Yes sir, right away." Krevax hurried away as quickly as he could. When he was out of the throne room, he sighed. Ever since Nothost had single-handedly taken over the planet, his people were reduced to ant work; building his castle, furniture, and now this spaceship. Then he had the audacity just to sat back and watch all of them work for him. Quite a bit of other Cybrans felt this way; most of the ones who didn't serve Nothost of their own free would assassinate him if they got the chance. Still, not all of them were part of the resistance movement that Krevax was secretly a part of. Krevax had complained to the leader, Yaha, about their apparent lack of action to get rid of Nothost, but Yaha had dismissed his argument saying "I was a war veteran in the army that went up against Nothost. And I'll just say this right now. Even if we all march upon his castle and attacked him, we wouldn't be able to kill him. I've seen him tear right through the ranks of a 6,000 strong army without as much as his clothes scratched. The only person I know of who might be able to stand up against him is Sonic the hedgehog. Marsh escaped from here to tell Sonic in person, but as you know, with the communications being constantly monitored by Nothost, we can't send out a message to him. The only thing we can do is pray for his success."

"That was a month ago! He's probably been killed by bounty hunters at this point! How can you just sit back and watch our people suffer and die at that madman's leisure?!" Krevax had never forgotten the tired, sad look the old man had given him right then. For the first time, Yaha looked like an old man to Krevax, instead of the strong resistance leader that he had come to known.

"For now Krevax, it's the only thing we can do."

"He has my sister locked up, my sister Yaha, the last family I have. And you're telling me just to sit back and do nothing?"

"I'm sorry, but that's the way it has to be."

Krevax had then punched him, before walking angrily out of the room. Most of the council wanted to demote him for that, but Yaha intervened, saying that he had a just cause to do so. Krevax supposed he had to thank the old man for that. Suddenly, Krevax's communicator beeped. This was unusual. There wasn't a planned resistance meeting today. Krevax took off as quickly as he could without attracting attention.

Superbion woke up in a nice, soft bed. "_Wait, how did I get here? The last thing I remember was being attacked by the really weird tree. _He tried to sit up, but he ended up falling off half of the bed, with his top side hanging over the bed.

"You shouldn't push yourself you know. You've been through a lot, being under that tree for so long." A worried, female voice said. He was helped back up to the bed by what appeared to be a giant rabbit. She smiled at him. "You worried me for a little while. You were asleep for 3 days straight. I'm glad I found you when I did."

"How did you get that tree off of me?"

The rabbit frowned. "There was nothing on you. You were just lying in the middle of the forest unconscious when I found you."

"Is that so? _Great, I was hallucinating. I just hope that was due to my physical condition at the time, and not a permanent thing. _ He stared at the rabbit. It was dressed in a violet dress with a red front and a blue ribbon tied around her neck. She was now smiling at him; apparently his recovery meant a lot to her.

"_This is surprising. Most humans wouldn't show this much concern for someone as disfigured as myself was lying on the ground unconscious. Then again, she isn't human."_ He noticed a tray of food, and a glass of water. All of the food was compromised of various vegetables like broccoli, although there was a lot of lettuce and carrots though.

"Do you need help with eating? I couldn't help but notice that you don't have any arms. It must be difficult for you."

Superbion stared at her wide eyed for a moment before finally gaining enough composure to reply "no, but thanks for the offer anyway. _This is the first time anyone has offered to do that to me. This place sure is strange_."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure that I can eat by myself. Could you please leave the room now?"

"Call me if you need anything." The rabbit walked out of the room. Superbion sat up, and started grabbing food with his teeth and slowly chewing on it. He had learned the hard way that you had to be very patient to eat like this; he had nearly choked to death on hamburger this way once. After he had eaten and drinks his fill, he lay back down on the bed and tried to go to sleep. He realized that he was wearing a strange set of clothes; they looked like a girls, with a long red gown that went down to his legs. He groaned. He presumed she took off his dirty torn clothes and replaced them with these monstrosities. That rabbit had meant well, but he couldn't take them damn things off without arms. Well, come nightfall, he was sneaking out of this house, and he didn't particularly care what set of clothes he was wearing.

Krevax took his place at the high council meeting of the resistance, which comprised of 6 other members, including Yaha, who sat at the end of the table.

"So what is the meaning of calling the high council down hear Yaha?" Asked Hetra, a woman well known for her triumphs in the Battle of Moho's Gorge. "You know how big of a risk this is, gathering us all here. So I would appreciate you telling us why we're here, and it better be worth the risk, whatever it is.

Yaha sighed. "We've gotten a message from Marsh."

At this, the entire room was in an uproar; "you did?" "What did he say?" "Did he contact Sonic?"

"Alright, that's enough everyone!" Yaha banged his fist on the table "He said that Sonic was gone for a long time, but has just returned from space. He expects to have sonic coming within a day or two."

"And how long will it be before he gets here?" Grena, on particularly fat council member asked.

"He didn't say, but it seemed hopeful."

"This is rubbish! By the time he gets back, Nothost will have completed his ship, and then god knows what he plans to do. He will be out of our reach and he knows it! We have got to strike as soon as possible!"

"You know how futile that will be, Drago. How do you propose to kill him? Our lasers, fast as they are, don't seem to be able to hit him. Explosions are out of the question, ever since he set up a blockage around the planet, not even a grenade pin can be found. Our only choice is to wait for Marsh to show up with Sonic."

"And what if what Grena says is right? What if Nothost manages to complete his starship before they get back?"

"The Ship won't be complete for another month or so, we'll give them 29 days to show up. We'll plan an operation to blow up the ship before that time period. If they don't show up, we'll blow up that damn ship and whoever's on it.'

"Still, I think that we should…" He was interrupted by the door being knocked down, and Cybrex wearing the black uniform of Nothost that depicted red eyes glaring out at whoever was looking at the logo.

"Yaha, you and the rest of the high council is to be brought before Nothost alive. He wants to "set an example" with all of you before killing you for your treason."

"How did you find us? I thought we hid ourselves so far underground that you wouldn't be able to find us."

"That's none of your business, now get moving!" The guard held up his laser.

"_This guy is a fool if he thinks he can just walk in and take the council. We'll aren't unarmed." _He reached for his laser, and quickly fired it at the guards along with the rest of his council members. Or at least, they tried to. Nothing happened. The guard grinned at him, as if this was some kind of sick joke he wasn't in on. "What's the matter, your toys not working?" He taunted.

"_How the hell did this happen?"_ Unfortunately, he already knew the answer to that horrible thought. There was a traitor in their ranks, probably in the engineering department. Oh well, he still had the stun turrets to blast them with. He pressed a button, and part of the ceiling opened up to reveal turrets that aimed themselves at the guards.

"I'd like to know how you deactivated our lasers, but that's something I can ask you after I send you to the torture chambers."

The guards just laughed in response. "We aren't going anywhere, but lord Nothost will send you straight to hell!" The stun turrets turned, and aimed themselves at the council members. It was over in seconds. As he slipped into unconsciousness he thought "_We've been played with this whole time. The spy was in the council all along."_

Who is the traitor? What is Superbion after exactly? And will Sonic help Marsh defeat the tyrant Nothost? Find out in the next chapter!


	2. Treachery and Worries

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for some character that I have created, but that's it. Everything else was made by Sega and other respective owners. So I'm going to keep the character personalities as close as I can to their originals. Now that that's out of the way, enjoy the story.

** Ch.2, Treachery and Worries**

"_Come on, pick up the phone!"_ Cream and Vanilla were worried for their guest he had ran out in the middle of the night with nothing on but one of Vanilla's gowns. They couldn't think why he would leave without even leaving a note; okay, scratch the note-making thing, but without even letting them know he was going. Vanilla had already contacted the police and given them vivid details on their guest's appearance, including the clothes he happened to be wearing at the time. The police were quite amused to hear the clothing description, but after hearing crack after crack of transsexual jokes made Vanilla lose her temper and yelled at the police to take this more seriously. After that, the police decided that it wasn't that funny, and said they would look into it as soon as possible. Still, Cream was concerned that they just said that to get off the phone quickly, and doubted that they would do anything much to help in this situation. Cream decided to call the one person that would take things a bit more seriously and would definitely help her. The phone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Sonic, it's me Cream!"

"Oh hi Cream, what's up? You sound worried about something, and you don't usually call me, you just come right over."

"Well, we had this guest that mom found in the forest, but the strange thing is, he was a human, and he didn't have any arms."

"Whoa Cream, could you slow down a little? You're telling me that you found a human in the forest? And he doesn't even have any arms?" He sounded worried, and Cream realized that he had a particular human in mind as he was saying this.

"I know how crazy this sounds, but he didn't have any arms, and he wasn't Chris or Eggman." She could hear Sonic's relieved sigh on the other side of the phone. After defeating Dark Oak, they had lost Chris, a human friend that had visited them from Earth, a planet located on another dimension. Sonic had thought that Chris had somehow lost his arms; he was relieved to learn it wasn't Chris.

"Still though, it must be tough on that guy to have no arms. Eating must be very messy for him. Not to mention trying to get dressed and even getting up from bed must be a pain for him. Still Cream, I know that just about everyone I know has the sense to lock their doors and windows, including your mom. So how did a guy with no arms manage to get out the house in the first place?"

Cream sighed. "By the looks of it, he broke the living room window with his legs and got out like that. We found a bunch of gold coins. I guess that was his way of saying thank you. All the same, it's going to take a while to get the window fix, and now it's really cold during the night, and the newsmen say it's going to snow hard tomorrow, so my house very well might be white _before_ me and my mom get around to painting the house."

"Ouch. Well I'm sorry to hear that. Anyway, you want me to help you look for him, right?"

"Yes. I'm terribly worried about him. He's lost, he has no arms, and he has no family to go back to for Christmas." It was only 3 days until that day. One of the few holidays that had actually been adopted by the Mobian culture. Cream couldn't help but wonder if Sonic suggested something like a holiday to celebrate him, that the Mobians would make it. They seemed to take any opinion from Sonic very seriously.

"What makes you think that he doesn't have a family to return to, Cream?"

Cream sighed "Sonic, we have a diverse animal population made up of many species, and we haven't got even one human family living here. You know as well as I do that they can only come here through a process similar to Chaos Control, like Chris did when he came here. I know you're worried about Chris, but until the master emerald recharges, we can't go looking for him."

"I know that Cream, but It's just unsettling to have one of your best friends lost in the depths of the universe. Usually everything worked out for the best, but this time, even when Shadow and I teamed up in our super forms, it was all we could do just to defeat Dark Oak and revive Cosmo. How are you two doing by the way?"

"We're getting along fine, although she and Tails spend most of their time together these days. It's nice to see them getting along so well, considering Cosmo's distrust of most animals when we met her." Cream realized they were getting way off topic from the reason she called him in the first place.

"So will you please look out for him? He shouldn't be that hard to spot." Easy to spot was a huge understatement with what he was wearing.

"Sure Cream, I'll get right on it. Talk to you later!" There was the sound of rushing wind, and he was gone. Although she could still hear the sounds through the speaker of her phone; Sonic had forgotten to put up the phone again. She briefly wandered how high his phone bill was, before getting back to her original task of making lost and found posters for their human guest

Yaha woke up with a headache. A point black hit by stun cannons tended to do that to you. He looked around, and realized that he must be in Nothost's personal dungeon. The sheer size complete lack of windows gave it away. This place looked like a labyrinth, only with cells inserted into the walls instead of just blank stone walls. It was rumored that the place went on for miles under the planet surface; more was being constructed every year, according to the rebellion spies he had planted in Nothost's ranks. It was also a well known fact that as many as 30 people had managed to make it out of their cells, and yet not a single person had ever escaped from Nothost's dungeon. This was due to the sheer size, lack of light, and row after row of identical cells no matter how many right or left turns you made at the end of the hallway, a convict would escape from his or her cell only to die 3 days later of dehydration. Yaha had to admit that it was a very efficient system; he supposed the guards had electronic systems that mapped out the labyrinth somehow. He noted the security camera in the top right corner of his cell. He knew that it wouldn't be long before Nothost sent someone to come and take him to him, now that he was awake. Nothost wasn't known for his patience. Sure enough, two guards came up to his cell door and opened the door.

"Alright, turn around and face the wall, and put your hands on the wall."

Yaha complied, knowing better then to resist at this point. He figured he had a chance when Nothost brought him before him to gloat over his victory; maybe he could end the bastard's reign today. The guards put a blindfold over his eyes, and he was walked through the labyrinth. He tried to count the turns, but he eventually lost track. Eventually, they started climbing some stairs, and at the top, he heard a revolving door open, and as he was pushed through, closing behind them. After a few more steps, he was pushed roughly down into a chair, and chained to something. They took off the blindfold after making the last adjustments to the chain. Yaha was in a large, black throne room, with the emblem of Nothost hanging from tapestries everywhere. Large, black stone pillars held up a second floor that overlooked the first floor on the left and right sides. Yaha was chained to a table, along with the rest of the council, except for Krevax. He sighed _"so his sister being chained up really was too much for him. He went to Nothost. You stupid fool!"_ A figure on a throne spoke. He had brown hair, red eyes, and wore a black cloak. He also was wearing a black crown on his head.

"At long last, I have caught you fools. Did you really think you could actually dethrone me, and destroy me? Well, I'm going to teach you all what happens when you cross me like this."

"We aren't afraid of death." Grena shouted bravely.

Nothost laughed. "Who said anything about killing you? There are many worse things worse than death, fool. I will bring you such unimaginable pain that your puny minds can't even begin to fathom it."

Yaha now noticed Krevax standing next to Nothost. After Nothost was done with his fear speech, he said. "Lord Nothost, I've done what I asked. Release my sister, or they'll be hell to pay!"

Nothost sighed. "Always thinking about yourself are you? Still, you did do a good job." Nothost pressed a button on a consol next to the throne. He spoke into a mouthpiece on the same consol. "Bring prisoner number 56 up to my throne room. And make it snappy!" He turned back to the council members.

"I'm sorry about that, Krevax here distracted me. Anyways, you will all receive your punishment on November 24, starting at 12:00 P.M. One by one, you will suffer at my hands, and if you're lucky, just shrivel up and die."

"What would that be lucky?" Drago shouted.

"You have no idea how lucky it is just to die, my young council member." Two guards came in, bringing a Cybran female with them. Krevax stared wide eyed at her.

"Is that you Presilla?"

Presilla looked at him, and she smiled with joy. "Oni-Chan, you came!" They rushed towards each other, arms outstretched. Nothost chuckled, and raised an arm back, as if to throw something."

"Gloomlance" a black cloud formed in Nothost's hand, and formed into a lance. He threw it at Krevax and his sister. It pierced them both, sending them flying against the wall, and as the spear disappeared, they slumped to the floor, Krevax raised his head, and as blood splattered out of his mouth, he muttered angrily "Nothost, you traitorous scum!" He collapsed, and died on the spot. The mortified council members just stared at the scene that had unfolded before them. Draco tried to lung at Nothost, but forgot about his chains, and was pulled back into the chair, knocking it over, with him in it. Yaha shook with anger.

"After he went and handed us to him, you killed him and his sister? You are the worst! You couldn't keep a promise if your life depended on it!"

Nothost grinned. "You have no idea what I promised him. I said if he handed you over to me, that he and his sister could be together. I just didn't say **where** they would be together. I couldn't leave him alive when he had his sister. He would just turn against me again. Oh well, I guess there's always the afterlife."

"You sent them to the void you bastard!"

"Oh yeah, you guys don't believe in the afterlife. Whoops, I'll have to remember that next time." Nothost laughed and laughed, his feet kicking in the air. After a while, he calmed down. "Take them away. Tomorrow is a big day!" He snapped his fingers, and the guards took them away. He pressed a button, and a T.V. dropped down, and the governor of the state appeared on the screen."

"Yes my lord?"

Send out the word to every governor we have. Every citizen is going to be taken to a viewing center to witness the punishment of the council, and when I say everyone, I mean everyone; Every last child, old person, toddler, all of them. They will learn true despair, and none of them will dare raise again me again.

What does Nothost have in mind for the council? Where is Superbion? All this and more will be answered in the next chapter.


	3. The Day of the Devil's Judgement, part 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the characters I've specifically created for this; everything else belongs to their respective owners. Now enjoy the story.

Authors note: We haven't seen much of Sonic and the gang yet. For those of you who are wandering why this is, it is because there are a few things that have to be explained first before the main protagonists appear in the story. So be patient; they will be in this story. Also, (with a number in it) means that the thing before it will be explained at the end of the chapter

"_Where am I? I felt an excruciating pain and then… I was here. Where am I?" _Krevax opened his eyes, gasping at what his eyes showed him. He was in a beautiful meadow, like the ones that used to exist on Cybrainia before Nothost cultivated them for things like mining projects, ship-fields, and iron works. When compared to the fields he played in as a small child before Nothost's empire however, this was way more beautiful, much more serine then all of them. What really amazed him though, was all the Cybrans that were running around. Children were laughing as they played games like glide tag (1), while mothers watch them, smiling at their carefree ways. 3 figures approached Krevax. They looked similar to Cybrans, but all of them were slightly taller, had wings with elaborate patterns on them, and all of them were rather beautiful, in an artistic sort of way. Krevax realized who they were, although he couldn't believe that they were actually real. They were brought up in the religion of the Cybran as the holy sages who arose from the Cybrans whenever the race was in dire need and in strife. The sages brought an end to the strife, such as the plague of 1999 and the War of the Bushnie. The third sage, Remial had failed at his task at bringing peace to Cybrainia during the War of 2150, and died. When a sage failed in his/her task, the Cybran were brought into a dark age that lasted up to a century, in which chaos reigned supreme and the world was in a constant state of strife and famine. The period had ended 25 years ago, only to have Nothost take over the planet 5 years later during the recovery period. Krevax, in presence of such legends, did the thing that came natural to anyone meeting legends. He bowed to them.

"Not again! I hate it when people do that! It's always the same, we want to have a conversation with one of the new arrivals, and they all bow like that and treat us like we're gods. I'm sick of it! Get your head off the floor right now!" The one on the left demanded.

"Promita, could you please not yell at the newcomers, especially this one? Although I do agree with Promita on this particular occasion and would like to ask you to stop that, and get up. The one in the middle, which Krevax recognized as Glemax, the first seer, and considered the greatest by most of the church before Nothost came, was the one who spoke to Krevax. Krevax quickly did as he asked, and got to his feet.

"Sorry about that my lords… I mean, Glemax." Glemax turned to Promita and smiled.

"This is a first; we have to remind all the others for years before they stop referring to us as lords or holy ones."

"Don't forget mistress. I really hate that one" Promita added.

Remial rolled his eyes "We know you're a woman Promita; you don't have to remind us every second you know."

"I was not reminding you that I'm a woman. I'm merely saying that the term mistress is a suggestive term and implies that I'm a lover to whoever asks that question."

"Quit using that as an excuse. If they were referring to that definition of the word, they wouldn't bother to bow down at your feet. Now quit accusing me of being so dull that I can't tell the difference between a male and a female of my species." Remial snapped.

"You probably can't, seeing as you didn't marry before you died. And don't give me that story about how young you were when you died; you had plenty of time."

"I don't need to take dating advice from a hag who goes through men as quickly as kids eating cake."

"Big words from the one who failed his task and brought the Dark Age" retorted Promita.

The two continued to argue, forgetting Krevax and Glemax, who watched with annoyance. Krevax's respect for the two sages was starting to diminish. He turned to Glemax.

"Do they do this all the time?"

Glemax nodded. "It's to be expected. When Promita was sage, the custom of the Cybrans glorified winners, and losers were shunned and never mentioned again. Remial still resents his failure, and personally blames himself for the rise of Nothost. Although Nothost would have come no matter how prosperous or declining our species was." Despite that, they were actually starting to get along. But current events in the world of the living have changed that." Krevax opened his mouth to speak, but the argument next to them intensified to the point where he couldn't be heard without constantly shouting. Glemax turned to the two arguing Cybrans.

"Could you please be quiet? Krevax wants to ask something." At this, the two sages stopped arguing abruptly. Glemax turned back to Krevax.

"You were saying?"

"So I'm in the afterlife?"

"Normally you would be dead, but you are a special case."

"What makes me so special?"

"Have you ever heard of "The Ritual of Kami-Speak" before?

"No, I haven't."

Glemax sighed "I figured you didn't Nothost is trying his very best to destroy our unique culture. I doubt anyone but the former priests and their old followers know anything about it anymore. About 250 years ago, the Cybrans were split into 4 tribes, each of them trying to kill the other tribes and reign supreme. This war lasted for about 100 years, and would have killed off our race, if it weren't for Balnor, a brave priest, who performed a ritual to communicate with god himself.

"That thing is actually possible?" Krevax asked incredulously.

Promita rolled her eyes. "Of course it is you moron! If you can talk to us here in heaven, naturally it would be able to work the other way as well!" She turned to Glemax

"Is this guy really going to be the next sag, oomph?!" This last part was caused by Glemax whacking her with the edge of one of his wings.

"We can't tell him yet Promita. He has to hear the whole story."

Promita looked like she was about to argue with him, then changed her mind as she saw the look on Glemax's face. He turned back to Krevax.

"Now as I was saying, the priest contacted god, asking for help. So God told him how to do this ritual to create a sage, but was warned, saying that this power was used to promote peace and harmonize both good and evil; it wasn't supposed to make good or evil prevail in either way. Should the balance tip too far in one direction or the sage fail their task, the race would enter a dark age that could last from anywhere between 50 to 100 years. Upon these terms, the priest agreed, and he became the first sage, and ended the war and unified the tribes into one."

"But in the war of 2150, there were 5 countries."

"I didn't say that it stayed that way. Now as I was saying, throughout periods of strife, 3 more sages were called upon to save the race. I, Promita, and Remial are those 3. However, there were more candidates originally."

"What happened to those candidates?" Krevax had a feeling he knew the answer to that.

Glemax sighed. "The ritual involved sacrificing the one who volunteered into becoming a sage."

"But if they died, how could they have become a sage?"

"Those who were sacrificed were taken up to heaven, and were tested and given a choice. They could either stay in heaven, or go back down as a sage and fulfill their destiny as a sage. However, most of them would rather stay here; our race is a race of cowards and we generally have little to no self-esteem. That and most were afraid of what would happen to their race if they failed."

"How many were sacrificed before you took up the mantel?"

"4 were sacrificed before I became a sage. I believe Promita had 8 sacrificed before she was chosen."

"9 if you count that Havian that the crazy priest believed could become a sage."

"Those of other races that were sacrificed don't count. Oh, and 2 were sacrificed before Remial took up the mantel."

"What happened to those who decided to say?" Krevax asked.

"They're around here somewhere." There was a look in Glemax's eyes that said otherwise though.

"So what does all of this have to do with me?"

"Well, you're going to be the next sage, if you want to be."

"I'm what?" Krevax was not expecting this "But I wasn't sacrificed by the ritual. How could I become the next sage?"

"Normally you would have to be in the ritual, but we finally convinced the council of Heaven otherwise. (2). the situation down below has turned for the worse. And so I ask you, Krevax: Will you take up this mighty burden and become the next sage?"

"I…" Krevax was highly conflicted. On the one hand, he was angry at Nothost, who had enslaved his species, and tricked him into handing him the one force that stood between him and total domination, and killed him and his sister in the process. However, Krevax didn't feel like he was worthy of such an honor. He turned in the council, giving in to his personal, selfish desire of wanting his sister back. Besides, he was in heaven wasn't he? Finally, he and his sister could be together again. He turned towards the 3 sages.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not the right person for the job. I hate Nothost, but I'm not the right person to stop him. Therefore I decline the…"

"Oni-san, don't make a rash decision because of a few personal favors. Hear me out before you make this decision." The voice was silky smooth and musical, like a small bell. Krevax turned towards the source of the voice. Presilla was standing behind him, wearing the same look on her face as mother did when Nothost took her away all those years ago.

"Is that really you Presilla?"

She smiled sadly. "Yes it is, brother. Although I wish we could have been together in some other way. But there's nothing we can do about that I suppose."

"Why do you care what choice I make? It's not like I would make a difference if I went back. We were fools to think that we could stand against things that powerful."

:"I want to show you something, and then you can make your decision. If you still wish to remain behind after seeing this, I won't oppose you. But I would like for you to see this. This is the reason why the Council of Heaven decided to make you a seer in the first place, this thing that Nothost is about to do."

"How can I see what he is doing?"

"Those in Heaven can look down on the world of the living simply by wishing it. All you have to do is go to a river, lake, or other form of water and you can see him." She motioned to a small stream about 10 feet away. Krevax walked up to it, and concentrated. The grass rippled, and turned into a looking glass, through which he watched to what would be known by Cybran everywhere afterwards as "The Day of the Devil's Judgment"

The day that Nothost planned to "set an example" with the council, the military gathered up everyone who was capable of talking and understanding, while the rest were piled into daycares. The ones who didn't go to the daycare were marched through the streets to the town centers, where huge viewing screens with thousands and thousands of chairs were arranged in a row. The chairs were all black, with a circular seat, and the back of them rose into what looked like a scorpion's tail. This was in every town, all over the world. Everyone was forced into a seat by the soldiers, and an orange field surrounded the chairs. Those inside the chairs found that they couldn't move their arms, heads, legs, and could not close their eyes voluntarily; only when they blinked were their eyes closed for a short millisecond.

"What the hell is this all about?" A Cybran called out. Nothost's face appeared on all the screens.

"You are all welcome to today's show. I take it you've noticed that your seating arrangements are rather, unique shall we say? I will explain how this is going to work. You are all in a paralysis field, in which you can't move in, except for some certain body parts, but that will be explained later. This is because that what I want to show you is so important that you can't miss a single moment of it. Also, I'm going to take this moment to give you all a gift." The top of the chair shaped like a scorpion tail moved forward, and ejected a needle into all the Cybrans.

"I'm sorry I had to do that, but it was well worth the pain. Inside your bodies I placed a chip that is linked to my mainframe via satellite. It reads all your vitals, including blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate, what elements are in your body at all times, and so on." Nothost left out one important detail though. The chips were also advanced tracking systems. When it accessed the brain, it imputed their name, profession, and personality traits into his mainframe as well. Also, now no matter where they went, he could find them. Needless to say, he would know very quickly if someone didn't watch today's program.

"Suppose we have to go to the bathroom?" A short, stocky Cybran asked.

"Remember when I said that not all body parts were paralyzed?"

"What about it?"

"Well, to put it blankly, you are still able to use the bathroom where you are. All you have to do is mutter "open" and the middle of the chair will open, revealing a toilet. Since you Cybrans don't bother to wear clothes, this shouldn't be a problem."

"What if I feel like I my rights are being violated? I don't want to go to the bathroom in front of my family like this. It's degrading!" One of the guards pressed a button, and the chair glowed and sickly orange color. There was a low humming sound, and an orange light surrounded the Cybran. He let out a long draw-out scream before disappearing. The humming gradually slowed, and then stopped.

"I forgot to mention that all the chairs have a disintegration ray attached to them, so if you want to live, I suggest you all shut up, and don't annoy me with those meaningless questions." This made everyone shut up; even the toddlers stopped whining to their moms about how bored they were.

"Now, I'm going to begin the punishment of the council, who defied my supreme reign and foolishly attempted to overthrow me. Death is not even close to an appropriate punishment for these people. For their atrocities, they will suffer as I see fit. While the punishment for the others is being set up, I will go ahead with the first one. The first one to suffer is Hetra. Nothost's face disappeared from the screen; to be replaced with the live footage of Hetra was being lead trough a dark corridor by a bunch of guards. Finally, she was lead to a room with a huge pit in the middle. She was tied to a rope, and hung above the pit. Inside the pit were several Cybrans that were wearing the tattered red penitentiary uniforms that convicts wore. They were all staring up intently at Hetra. One of them licked their lips, like a beast being offered a piece of meat after not eating for a long time. Nothost's voice came through the intercom; even Hetra could hear him.

"Do you know who those people are Hetra?"

"I'm not color blind Nothost, those are convicts."

"Ah, but what kind of convicts are they? They were all sent to prison for the same offence."

"How should I know that?" Hetra said wearily.

"Allow me to enlighten you. They were all sent to prison as extreme sexual offenders. Those people down in the pit are the most serious rape offenders captured alive. Now here's how things are going to go. You swear internal loyalty to me, or I'll press the button and drop you into that pit. I should warn you, since going to prison, none of them have had the chance to let out their drives. I doubt there will be much left of you if you are dropped into their midst."

Hetra's face turned a distinctive shade of white at this. "You wouldn't dare do this to me! This is indecent; is there anything you wouldn't do to someone?"

Nothost put on a mocking thoughtful expression on his face "Hmmm, nothing comes to mind. "

"You're existence is a plague on this world!"

Nothost pressed a button, and the rope lowered a bit. The one of the convicts exclaimed with delight, and started jumping up and down as if Christmas had come early.

"Your fate is entirely in your hands, Hetra. Swear internal loyalty to me, admit that I am the superior being now and forever, and I'll merely give you life in solitary confinement."

"I'll never give in!" Hetra was looking more terrified by the minute though. She knew he was crazy enough to go through with this, since she saw what he did to Krevax and his sister. Nothost pressed the button again, and the rope lowered even more. She was about 15 feet from the ground now.

"It must be hard to admit that I'm better then you; your pride is what brought you success leading your armies against foes even when the odds were against you. But here it is only going to kill you. Now, admit your loyalty to my empire and admit that I'm superior!"

"No!"

Nothost pressed the button again. She was now only 8 feet from the ground. The convicts were jumping off of the ground, trying to reach her. They almost did; one of them managed to tore off a piece of her shirt.

"On this next one, I'm going to push the red button. When I do, the rope will be dislodged from the cable, and you will fall down to your new friends. You know what I want you to say."

Hetra knew she wouldn't be able to survive down there. Death was one thing, but being raped like that; she would rather die than grow through that. "I admit it. You're superior to every way to me. I also admit my loyalty to the empire. Now please, let me go."

Nothost chuckled. "You probably should have said something else. Alright, I'll let you go." He pressed the red button.

All the Cybran, stuck in their seats, all unable to move, watched in horror as she fell into the pit, then the camera angle changed and they watched to the whole thing. The kids screamed, some of the audience cried, some let out cries of outrage, but most just watched the spectacle, appalled at what Nothost had done. All of them were filled with hopelessness and helplessness; they couldn't even do anything to help the woman in front of their eyes.

In his control room, Nothost looked at Hetra's vitals on the screen. He had put one of the chips in each of the council members as well. He figured he would let would let the prisoners have their way with her until they either tired out, or until Hetra was in critical condition and needed to be pulled out. After about two hours of watching the spectacle, Hetra's heartbeat became irregular. Nothost ordered the guards to get her out of there as soon as possible. He watched with delight as the guards zapped the prisoners with their stun batons, and carried Hetra away on a stretcher. She was staring up at the ceiling as she went, muttering gibberish Nothost couldn't even begin to comprehend. Nothost pressed a button, and his face appeared on all the viewing screens again.

"I hope you enjoyed the first act, ladies and gentlemen. Please be patient; soon we will begin the second game. This is only the beginning; he he he!"

"What a monster." Krevax muttered as he watched the events unfold "Doing that to Hetra and making the young ones watch it."

Glemax sighed. "Nothost relishes in the suffering of other beings. Our race is not the first to suffer from his terror, the Luma, the Velinor, and the Seedrians are all examples of those Nothost have brought suffering to."

"I heard the Seedrians were killed by the Metarex."

"But Nothost is the reason why the Metarex existed to begin with. Nothost's empire, which included the Luma, Velinor, Tera, and Ilinor races, attacked the Seedrians to add them to his empire. Nothost underestimated their strength, and the war lasted longer than he anticipated. When Hertia fired the missiles intended to kill Lucas, Nothost took full advantage of this, and turned them into the Metarex, thus leaving the Seedrians with only one remaining member of their species alone in the universe."

And I'm going to end this chapter on that cliffhanger. I wanted to get a bit more in, but I decided that this chapter was big enough as it is. What horrible things does Nothost have in store for the remaining council members? What will Krevax's decision be? Will he become a seer, or will he stay in heaven? Find out in the next chapter! I would like you to review this if you can, please.

Footnotes:

In glide tag, one person is it, and has to find the others and touch all of them. Unlike normal tag, you have to use your head; the people you have to tag can throw rubber balls at the person who's it, which are about the size of a baseball. If the it person gets hit 3 times, he/she is out, and the person who got the most hits on him/her becomes it (if it's a tie, they get in a throwing match, and whoever gets hit first loses). You have to think carefully, whether your it or one of the ones being hunted.

The council of Heaven is the council that makes decisions that might impact the living world. They are also the judges of those who have sinned in life, but might not have done enough to go to hell. In that case, a trial to decide their fate is held. The council is made up one member of each species to represent that species (for example, the representative for the Cybrans is that first priest, Balnor, for the Seedrians, it's Hertia, and for the humans, Saint Paul is the representative).


	4. The Day of the Devil's Judgement, part 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except for some characters that I created. If I see them in another story without my permission, well, just see what Nothost does to the council in my story. I'll do that to you if you plagiarize my works. Now, to begin the next chapter:

Note: Footnotes at the bottom, explaining the numbered phrases.

Nothost was on an emotional high he had never felt before; he supposed this excitement was the feeling that Cybrans got when they were taking Root Beer (1). Nothost hoped he wouldn't have to suffer the crash after his high point. Tormenting the council this way was his most ingenious plan he had come up with. Not only did he get to torment the enemies that had made his life a living hell, but he actually got to have fun doing it. Nothost decided to go ahead with the next punishment. He couldn't wait to have that exhilaration that he had felt when he sent Hetra into the pit. He pressed the intercom button.

"If you enjoyed the first show, then you'll just love the next program. " Nothost pressed a button, and the viewing screens showed Halburn Stadium, a stadium that was usually used for Wingball (2). However, for this occasion, it was the site of Nothost's next twisted game. The stadium was filled with Nothost's military men, all of who were cheering at enthusiastically at the spectacle in the center of the stadium. Guards brought up Draco and Crena, and unshackled them when they were about 5 feet from a small platform that was covered with a curtain, and about 4 feet off the ground, and 7 wide. Nothost's voice came over on the intercom, and the crowd was instantly silent.

"This show is going to be your money's worth, my faithful fans. Two council members will be judged here, at the price at only getting to see one show!" The crowd roared with approval.

"You're so predictable Nothost. You've set us up in a gladiator ring, with a bloodthirsty crowd thirsting for our blood. What's behind the curtain? Could it be a Narglad? Of course it's a Narglad, it's the only predatory animal left on this planet you didn't exterminate." Draco said sarcastically.

"Why would I bother to conceal the stage with a curtain if it was a Narglad? Besides, when did I say this was going to be a gladiator match? Oh, that reminds me." Nothost pressed a button, and the screen went black.

"If you enjoyed seeing this show, but feel bad knowing that your family and generations to come won't see this once in a lifetime showing? Then pre-order the DVD of "Serene Judgment" today!" A announcers booming voice shouted, and then a picture of a DVD box depicting a white robed figure throwing a lightning bolt down on 6 Cybrans, presumably the council members. Crena stared open-mouthed at the commercial.

"He's selling DVD's of our suffering to the entire general public? Doesn't he have everyone gathered up to watch this?" Crena asked incredulously.

"I think you're missing the point here." Drago replied coolly.

"For just 29.85, you can add this to your DVD collection today! You can watch the council get their divine punishment from Nothost as many times as you want! This DVD also comes with exclusive bonus features, including "The death of Krevax, the 7th council member", an unreleased footage that has never been seen until this release!"

Up in heaven, Krevax was being restrained by his sister and Glemax from trying to dive into the water. "That twisted fiend! Getting killed I can handle, being betrayed I can handle. But advertising my death as a bonus feature on a twisted DVD? I'm going to kill him!"

"Please stop oni-san! You won't be able to see what else is going on if you disturb the image!"

Meanwhile, down on the planet below, the advertisement was about done.

"So for 29.95, this DVD, and all its bonus features, can be yours! But wait, if you preorder now, you'll get a bonus disk that has Nothost himself, that's right, Nothost, being interviewed by Grace Brightwing (3) in which he reveals his feelings on killing the council, as well as how he came up with his brilliant punishments! So order now, at .com, today!" (3) The commercial ended, and Draco noticed that quite a bit of the crowd had taken out laptops and were typing like crazy, eager to get this marvelous product before the special extra DVD was no longer in stock. Nothost's voice came in over the intercom again.

"Now that's over with, I'll explain the rules to our game, but first, let's s see what's behind the curtain. The guards pulled a rope, and the tarp over the stage fell over, and Draco and Crena gasped. Behind the curtain, 7 Cybrans were tied up on racks. 4 of them were on one side, while 3 of them were on the other. In the middle of the stage, a wheel that had pictures and symbols on it stood there. Despite it being nothing more than a carved up piece of wood with depictions on it, it had an ominous presence. This wheel would bring bad fortune. Over each of the Cybrans on the stage, a light bulb was fixed. All of them were off at the moment.

"Nothost Chuckled. "I've taken the liberty of gathering your families together, and put them all in the front row seat for my show. Well, to be more precise, they **are **the show."

"What are you getting at?

A guard walked up to them and threw them 15 caliber anti-tank riffles, which were primitive weapons in the current time period,

"Alright, let me explain the rules to this little competition. You see the wheel and the lights? Each of you will take a turn, shooting at the other council member's family. The wheel will hand on a body part. You will shot that particular body part of the family member who has a light above his or her head. Oh, and if you get a skull with two scythes on the picture, you have to kill that family member." Draco's son Hama started crying from his position on the rack.

"What? What makes you think I'll participate in such an act? Killing my friends own family, what makes you think I'll do such a thing?" Draco shouted.

If you fail to shot the target within 30 seconds, a sniper will hit the depicted body part on a family member of yours. And if you try to run away, they all will die. Don't even bother trying to take any of the audience hostage either; a one way barrier is trapping you in there and shielding the crowd from harm. Needless to say, you are all isolated in this little game of mine, and will play it, or will suffer the consequences. Spin the wheel!" The light above Crena's wife glowed on, and the wheel began to spin. Draco was still trying to process what Nothost wanted him to do. Kill Crena's family to save his own? Nothost couldn't have made this clearer, but did he really expect for them just to blow their family away in cold blood? The wheel was slowly coming down to a stop. To his horror, it landed on a skull with two scythes.

"It looks like Draco has to kill Crena's wife Grentia right off the bat! What an exciting way to start things off!" The announcer's voice sounded suspiciously like the one that did that DVD commercial.

_Forgive me, Crena. We grew up together in these harsh times, thinking that our friendship could endure trivial things like death and war. And now it ends in the kind of game that was outlawed centuries ago. How strange, that death doesn't stop friendship, but something like this obliterates it." _Draco raised the gun towards Grentia. Time seemed horribly slow in those brief moments of horror; he could feel his finger pull the trigger, he could hear the bullet roaring in his ears as it was propelled from the thin tube at the end. He could hear it hit Grentia's head. With a sickening thud, and her screams after it hit. But what he heard the most was the crowd's roars of approval, a roar that blocked everything else in the stadium.

"And it looks like Draco has struck the first blow against the competition! I thought for sure he was going to chicken out, but I was proved wrong! Can his opponent retaliate from this blow?"

Crena was staring at Draco with a mix of shock and anger.

"You killed her! You didn't have to."

"Nothost would have killed her anyway. Besides, you'll get a shot at my family soon enough."

"Draco, there's only one way to escape from this madness." Crena shot Drago in the head. Draco's wife screamed, his son started sobbing, and the crowd grew to a deafening roar that even blocked out the announcer's microphone. However, Nothost spoke, and the crowd went silent.

"Bravo! You figured a way out of this situation with minimal losses. I didn't think you would have to guts to do that."

"You can go join Draco in hell, Nothost. As soon as I get out of here, I'll kill you."

"I think you should spend less time thinking about escaping and more time to what's happening to your family on stage." Nothost pressed an orange button on his control panel. A column of flames engulfed half of the stage, more specifically, the one with Crena's family. Crena tried to get them out of there, but a force field flung him back onto the ground, where he stared in horror as his family was consumed by the flames.

"No… this can't be happening!"

"You killed your opponent without playing my game. I'm simply punishing you for breaking the rules."

"You set me up!"

"It took you that long to figure that out? How did you even get on the council?"

"Go to hell Nothost!" He ran for the exit. He was tranquilized by the guards, and dragged away.

"I didn't expect for the game to end so quickly folks. Don't worry though, I have another game that you're all invited to see." The screen changed, and it showed two more of the council, Jomar and Grena, inside of what appeared to be the labyrinth. They were in different parts, and the screen showed both of them at their respective locations.

"Welcome to the maze. The task is quite simple my council members. All you have to do is find an exit, and get out of there. I guarantee your freedom, since I don't expect you to get out anyway I think it's only fair to keep my promise. I should warn you though; I've rigged the place with all kinds of traps. Don't succumb to them quickly though."

"Is there any other things we should know about your twisted labyrinth Nothost?"

"Now that you mentioned it, there is. You better high-tail it through the maze, cause there will be giant spiders coming after you. And they are all deprived of blood at the moment, so they'll tear you to pieces if they find you. Although, I'm in a good mood today, so I'll give you two a 5 minute head start before putting them in the maze. Now on your mark, get set, go!" The council members started off. Grena was having trouble running due to his weight; this amused Nothost to no end.

"That's it my little flies. Go into my webs."

Grena was running when he stopped. He noticed that the ground in front of him looked different from the rest of the surrounding area.

"Is a pitfall the best trap you come up with Nothost? I expected better of you. Grena opened his wings and took flight, and soared above the hole. Nothost grinned.

"It isn't a pitfall, Idiot."

A worm-like creature rose from the hill, and dragged a screaming Grena into it, a few seconds later; bones were ejected from the hole.

"That was a Doom Dozer (4), a little something I ordered off planet. You should know by now, things aren't as simple as they appear to be with me. Now let's check on how Jomar is doing." Jomar was navigating through the maze as quickly as he could, hoping not to become the spider's dinner. He turned the corner, and stopped as he noticed a patch of ground different from all the others.

"_That's it! Fall for my trap! With this, I'll only have one more council member to deal with!"_ Nothost was at the edge of his seat, staring intently at the screen.

Jomar looked around, and noticed a boulder nearby. He flew up into the air, grabbed the boulder, and dropped it onto the patch of strange ground. It went into the concealed hole, and there was a sickening thud, and the cries of a Doom Dozer dying.

"Looks like Jomar is a bit smarter than the last one folks! But can he make it through the rest of my maze?"

Jomar ran for what seem like forever, avoiding more pitfalls and spikes and other traps throughout the maze. Right, left, left, right, he lost track eventually. Suddenly, he saw a light ahead of him. He had found the exit.

"I don't believe it! He found the exit! It looks like I've failed in killing him." Nothost said sarcastically.

Jomar opened the door, and screamed as a spider pounced on him, devouring him.

"Well, he did find the exit folks. But I failed to mention about the kind of spider I released. See, the Poaching Spider picks a spot, and stays there, waiting for its prey. So naturally, I released them outside of all the exits. They never had a chance. And now for the moment you've all been waiting for. The judgment of Yaha will now commence!"

What does Nothost have in store for Yaha, and what will Krevax's decision be? Find out in the next chapter! Please review, I would like to know what you think of this story.

Footnotes:

Root bear was the liquid from the roots of the trees of the Cybran home world. It is extremely alcoholic.

Wingball is sort of like foot ball, only since Cybrans have wings, well, you get the general idea.

The website where supporters can report suspicious activity, send In suggestions, and by stuff that is allowed to be purchased by the government. (Nothost really needs to get a new name for that site, it's so cliché, lol).

A doom dozer is a worm-like creature that tunnels around, makes holes on the surface, covers it up, and waits for prey to show up.


	5. And the Next Target is

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except some of the characters in this story. Everything else belongs to their respective owners. And for those of you tired of this arch, don't worry; we'll be getting to Sonic and others in this chapter and Nothost will be out of the picture. I'm not killing him off or anything; I'm just going to take a break from him. For you loyal readers who have been waiting patiently for the next chapter in my long absence, I apologize for the delay. I wasn't feeling that well and I got a little sidetracked. I appreciate having such loyal fans. Now let's see what fate awaits Yaha at the hands of Nothost. Also, remember to look at the bottom of the page for important footnotes.

**Ch.5: And the Next Target Is….**

"And now, I will make an example of Yaha once and for all!" Nothost turned toward two of his guards.

"Bring him in here; I want to do this one personally."

"Yes sir." The guards walked briskly out of the room, making sure to quietly shut the door so that their master wouldn't get distracted from his important event. Meanwhile, Nothost was cackling gleefully to himself. He didn't have this much fun in a long time. Punishing the council members, giving them false hope so when he sent his judgment upon then it was all the more delightful to see their faces twist in fear. And all the people were forced to watch it. At first they were struggling to get out of the chair, trying to defy him, cursing at his image through the screens; he didn't like being contradicted. "_Look at those pitiful fools now though. They've lost so much hope that all none of them are making a sound. Even the young ones have stopped crying. They're fear is consuming them. The fear of what they're witnessing, the fear of being disintegrated, and of course, fear of the knowing that if I felt like it, I can subject them to suffering such as this whenever I feel like it without any repercussions whatsoever. I love the peace of quiet that comes with fear such as this." _The door slammed open with a loud clank, causing Nothost to grimace in discomfort. He turned around to see that the two guards had come back with Yaha, who was bound tightly.

"What have I told you guys about slamming the door?" Nothost hissed. The guards looked at each other nervously

"Sorry sir, it won't happen again I swear!"

"You're right about one thing." Nothost waved his hand and the guard disappeared. A few seconds later a loud, terrified shriek that came outside the control tower made the other guard whimper. Just for an instant, the guard was seen falling past the window and the shrieks grew fainter and fainter until a dull smacking sound silenced his cries.

"It definitely won't be happening again, but you never have kept your promises." He turned to the other guard. "I know that you're a bit more capable then that buffoon, but if you don't get out of here and get rid of that body at the bottom of the tower or I'll have to think of something to do to you as well."

"Yes sir!" The guard stammered, running out of there as fast as he could, but not before remembering to slowly close the door behind him. Nothost then turned his attention to Yaha.

"As soon as I press this little black button behind me we're going on a live feed. I've had fun with our little game, but all good things must come to an end. And since you were considered the greatest of the resistance, I'll make sure that your suffering will be the greatest as well."

Yaha shook his head sadly "Nothost, you don't have a shred of empathy for anything, not even your own servants. It's one thing to take revenge on those who have done you harm, but what you've done today is inexcusable!"

Nothost glared at him. "I'm tired of your antics on morals. It never ends! All the people I have encountered keep on telling me how twisted and cruel I am, and how it will send me to an early grave. Don't you people realize who you're speaking to? I am Nothost, the conqueror of worlds, the terror that haunts the nightmares of all sentient species in existence. I am the strongest in the universe, and no one can tell me that I will die. I am eternal, while you on the other hand, will know ultimate suffering and will be trapped within your fears for the rest of your life!"

Yaha stared Nothost in the face. "You're pride has blinded you Nothost. You may have the gift of not dying of old age, but don't confuse that with Immortality. If you continue your selfish conquests of planets then one day someone with more power then you will destroy you."

It took all of Nothost's self control not to kill him. Instead he smiled, and turned towards the camera, which was on standby and was not broadcasting.

"You know, I've had to put up with your crap for so long, so now it's your turn. Nothost pressed the black button, and the whole room rose up like an elevator, until it reached the top of the building. On top of a raised platform was a black marble chair that had handcuffs on the arm rests. Nothost threw Yaha unceremoniously into the chair and slammed the cuffs down on him. He then pressed a few buttons on a device on his wristband, and a few seconds later, a floating mobile camera appeared behind in front of him. Nothost took his place a couple feet left of the chair, and ordered the camera to begin the broadcast. It beeped, and Nothost's face appeared on all the screens again.

"I apologize for the wait, but I had quite a bit of things to tie up. However now that those annoyances are out of the way, we can now get on to the main event." He grinned and pointed at Yaha.

"In case you don't know, this is Yaha, who was the leader of that petty resistance that ended up breaking my ship, thus preventing me from fast intergalactic travel. He also managed to break all of my communication devices with an EMP, attempting to isolate me from the rest of the empire. I have to admit that his antics were rather annoying (1). However his efforts were in vain, as my excellent Oppression Force tracked him down and caught him alive, and now he is to be given a punishment. What is this punishment you ask? Well Yaha has the distinct honor to be personally driven insane by me. I want all of you to take a good look at what happens to Yaha, because those who oppose me from this moment on will suffer similar fates." Nothost raised his hand, and suddenly, a black aura surrounded Yaha. Yaha started to stare off into space; he was no longer looking at Nothost anymore. Suddenly he started screaming and violently writhing in the chair, the chains holding him firmly. He twisted in every direction he could, it was as if someone was burning him alive. He managed to slam his head against the back of the black marble chair a couple of times, but Nothost used the other hand to press a button that put a brace behind his head, preventing him from lashing his head any further. After all, he didn't want Yaha to die on him.

Krevax watched appalled as he watched Nothost torture Yaha, although he wasn't exactly sure how he was being tortured. He turned to Glemax.

"What is Nothost exactly doing to him that's so painful? And what is that black aura around Yaha?"

"It's what Nothost calls his "Terror Veil." It's a technique that creates a mental link between Nothost and his target. Of course, this link is totally once sided, with Nothost calling the shots. Through this link, he can access every thought and every memory from his target. As a result, he knows all of their greatest fears, and exploits them. He gives them illusions of their worse fear coming to life and attacks them, and they physically feel the pain. He also twists the perception of how someone remembered a memory, and makes them relive their worse memories as well as twisting those memories to his desires; they often end in tragic ways to say the least. The worse part about it is that the target is convinced that those are the true memories."

"What will happen if Nothost keeps this up for a large amount of time?" Krevax already knew the answer, but he didn't want to believe it. Promita confirmed his fears when she replied "He will go insane, and live in a phantom world of his worse fears for the rest of his life."

The Cybran watched on with horror as Yaha's screaming fits continued to intensify. The whole world was silent. Everyone was afraid that if they did something normally trivial such as sneezing, that they would be disintegrated or face some twisted form of torture. After about an hour, Nothost finally dropped his hand. Yaha slumped against the chair, muttering incoherent words. Nothost pressed a few more buttons on his wrist controller, and a drone came and picked up Yaha, who started struggling and screaming in vain as the drone held on tightly too him as it floated away. Nothost turned back to the camera. "If any of you are wondering where that drone is taking him, allow me to fill you in. He is being taken to the old capital building which was once the center of your government before I took over. It was damaged immensely during the war, but I've finish making repairs to it. However, I made some improvements to the building material of the Capital building; most of the walls are made of Clervice now, which most of you know is a solid that is hard as stone but completely transparent. Yaha and the rest of the surviving resistance will be held there, and you will be able to see them during the day. All you need to do is look at their broken spirits and you will know what will happen if you decide to oppose my power. Also, I've changed the name of the street to Winghole Street (2), an easy name to remember don't you think? Now before I let you all get back to your normal routines of the day, there is one last thing I want to take care of." Nothost pressed a few buttons on his communicator and said quite clearly. "Begin operation "Purification." Nothost turned towards the screen again. I've just give the command to start operation purification, but before I can tell you anything about it I must give you a debriefing on why I'm doing it. You see early this morning I managed to reverse the damage that the Resistance did to my communication devices, and immediately I got a distress call from General Urborg. His troops that were supposed to take over the planet Nuum have meet unexpected resistance, and several thousand of them were wounded, although many more lost their lives tragically. He's running low on certain medical supplies he needs and so all the wounded are coming here in a transport, I expect them to arrive sometime during the late afternoon. However, we need to make more room at the hospitals, as well as places we're converting into hospitals such as the cliques for the mentally ill. Therefore I have ordered my Sweeper Class drones (3) to go and disintegrate all those on the list that are deemed beyond all medical help. This applies to every single mentally ill patient; I don't want to pay money and use up food supplies to keep them alive, after all, what's the point? And for those wandering how we're going to handle all the wills of the people who have died we've come up for a simple solution for that too. Everything that is written in their will is now owned by the Necromite Empire, which essentially means that I've technically inherited everything written on a will. Oh by the way, if you're wondering what will happen to those who were supposed to inherit a house but don't know what it means since I own it now, I'm going to make it very simple for you to understand: my empire has no need for homeless people. And don't think I don't have the means to dispose of you right now; my flybots (4) have already recorded every written will anyone has ever written. Now I'm going to punch in the code to start the operation now, so prey to whatever gods you believe in." Nothost pressed the button, and all over the world, disintegrators above the seated people watching the broadcasts zapped people out of existence. The air was filled with the screams of those being wiped out of existence. The people who weren't being killed were either screaming and a small amount of Cybran were angrily shouting at Nothost on the screen, although anyone who was resisting Nothost or yelling at him were quickly disposed of as well. Mostly the Cybran watched with despair without making a sound. Soon the air was filled with the mechanical hum of the Seeker Drones, who went into the hospitals, mental hospitals, and the homes of those who were on Nothost's death list, and were quickly destroyed. It was over in 45 minutes, after which Nothost let the people get back to their business, to which they slowly walked to. Nothost was filled with his pride as he watched them all depart back to their business.

_What most evil dictators don't understand is that the secret to ensuring that no one will resist you is to make them absolutely terrified of you." _Nothost went off to his throne room, chuckling to himself as he did so.

"He really did it." Krevax mumbled disbelievingly. "Nothost actually killed thousands of Cybran without any hesitation at all. If anything at all about his mood has changed is that he's actually happier than normal." Glemax put his hand on Krevax's shoulder.

"What we are up against is something that takes pleasure of suffering of others, and can't have enough of that and the other things he desires, such as his positions of power. He will never stop so long as any sentient life exists that he can break. Speaking of broken spirits, I think the souls of the Cybran who are to go to heaven _have arrived_." And sure enough, a crowd of Cybran were being lead in by one of the caretakers, looking around with blank stares, wandering where they were.

"As I have told you before, we have had trouble with the Council of Heaven, as they don't want anyone in the afterlife to directly interfere with the affairs of the winning. However after this I think they won't mind if someone sends Nothost into the Abyss (5). You will be transported to the planet Mobius to seek the help of the inhabitants, which includes the infamous Sonic the Hedgehog. Even though you are a seer, Nothost is a foe that cannot defeated with the powers of the ancient Cybran race alone. If you are to have any chance of defeating him you must put all pride aside and work with others."

Krevax bowed to Glemax. "I understand sir."

"Then go out and may the gods be with you." Krevax disappeared in a flash a bright light.

"_You're going to need all the luck you can get boy."_

Superbion was running as fast as he could from that damn town. He had finally managed to get his hand on a different outfit, which was a black shirt, but he was forced to put on his old torn up pants. Apparently no one wore them anymore. He rushed into a clearing and was surprised to see what appeared to be a blue Hedgehog waiting for him.

"I finally found you!"

"_Why do I always have to deal with this crap?"_

Nothost was looking over the reports of operation Purification When a messenger dressed in red came in. Nothost frowned. A red-clothed messenger meant it was a priority one message. He hadn't had one of those in 35 years.

"Speak messenger, what do you have to report."

"Sir, it appears Dark Oak and all of the Metarex have been destroyed."

Nothost jumped to his feet "Dark Oak was defeated? That cannot be true, I'm the one who gave him his powers. Who destroyed him?"

"Someone called Sonic the Hedgehog sir."

"Is it the one that's been spreading unrest and heresy through my empire and has been giving the people ideas to rebel?"

"He is the same one."

"Go out there and tell my commanders to get every able-bodied Cybran to get to repair my ship Right away, I want it ready by tomorrow. I'm going to show him what it means to mess with the Necromite Empire. It looks like my next target is Mobius."

It seems as if Nothost has decided to destroy Sonic the Hedgehog. Can Krevax get Sonic to help him, and if so, will they be able to withstand the might of Nothost and his minions? Find out in the next chapter.

Footnotes:

(1): This is a bit of an understatement. Because no one was able to get into contact with Nothost rumors began to spread around that he was dead. Of course Nothost was able to clear this misunderstanding as soon as the communications were fixed.

(2): Winghole Street is a term derived from the Cybran analogy "He fell into the pit with wings", which means falling for a very obvious trick or doing something extremely foolish or suicidal. Nothost obviously wants to give out the message that opposing him is a futile gesture.

(3) Sweeper Class Drones are used for quick take out operations by Nothost. They are shaped like spheres in the middle with two arms and two stalk eyes growing out of the top of the sphere.

(4): Flybots are small robots about the size of a grape that have the ability to use cloaking for long periods of time. They're used for gathering information that is otherwise unobtainable by normal means.

(5): The Abyss is the technical term for hell in the afterlife. No one but the high council knows what's really down there; although they do suggest that it's not a pit of fire as most humans believe.


	6. Things Get Worse

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story, except for my own O'Cs; now enjoy this long overdue chapter. Also, check out the footnotes at the end of each chapter.

"Hold it right there!" Superbion turned to see one of the strangest creatures he had ever seen, and that was saying a lot considering all the creatures he had encountered while roaming the depths of space.

"_This is_ _just great. Now I'm up against a blue hedgehog for some reason, and I haven't seen a single human at all." _"Who are you, and what business do you have with me?"

"Sonic's the name, and one of my friends is worried about you."

Superbion frowned. "Who would be worried about me?"

"Does the name Cream ring any bells?"

"Oh, so that's what the rabbit is called. You can tell her that I'm fine now. I just let my guard down, that's all." Superbion reached for one of his smoke bombs."

"Also I've heard you've robed several clothing stores."

"The clothes that Cream provided were a little too pink for my tastes. Besides, the shopkeeper wouldn't accept my money. I have no idea what you use for currency around here. Anyway, I don't have time for you, so this is where we say goodbye." He threw the smoke bomb and activated his anti-gravity thrusters and flew away quickly.

"Darn it! Where did he go?" By the time the smoke cleared, Superbion was nowhere in sight. "I guess I better tell Cream about this." He ran off back towards the village.

Meanwhile, Superbion was flying towards a place where he hoped he would find answers. "What is up with the Earth? There's not a human in sight, all the animals stare at me and think I'm crazy, and nothing looks the same. After a thousand years I would expect some terrain change, but this looks like something catastrophic hit the Earth. Perhaps I'll get some answers somewhere else." He flew off towards what used to be one of Earth's most well known cities, hoping that something remained that would give him clues as to what happened.

"_So this is Mobius? It's so beautiful."_ Krevax had grow up when Nothost had taken over, and Nothost had built so many factories and pretty much did away with all the environment in the process of his industrial takeover. He even went out of his way to burn or cut down every tree in sight. He then replaced them with statues of himself, power plants, bases, and cities. So Krevax had never seen any plants this large, or any trees for that matter.

"_I have no time to look at the scenery though! I have to find Sonic and warn him about Nothost!" _This brought up an issue however. How would he find Sonic in time? Going around and asking people where he lived were out of the question, since none of them would know where he lived most likely. (1) So what to do? He sat there sitting there thinking for awhile. Then he got it. Nothost had a system of public communicators that were dispersed through most of the streets of the major cities, towns, and god knows how many communities. And most of them had a computer system that searched for the name of the person you wanted to talk with, and the number popped up next to the name. Perhaps there was a similar device on this planet. He went up to the nearest person he saw.

"Excuse me, but could you tell me where a public communicator may be found?"

The creature stared at him like he was crazy. "Don't you mean a telephone?"

"Sorry, I'm a little tired. I meant to say telephone. _That was rather awkward._"

The creature pointed to the right. "Go past the town hall and you can't miss it."

"Thank you." The creature seemed very eager to get rid of him. Perhaps he did look a little strange. Even he was getting to his new, yet strangely beautiful form. Although it was a norm that people tended to be wary of things that were strange and unknown to them. In the case of Nothost his people were correct, unfortunately. Krevax flew over to the telephone booth. He came across a rather annoying problem however. His wingspan was bigger than the inside of the telephone both, even if he folded them as much as he could. After about 30 seconds of struggling to get in while the people around him watched this spectacle, Krevax decided to break apart the booth until only the phone and the part it was connected through remained. He looked through the book until he found Sonic's address. He tore off that piece of the paper and looked at it. Then he quickly flew off to find the address that was listed on the paper. He was curious about that car with the flashing lights that was approaching the telephone booth, but that would have to wait for another time.

Nothost was staring out of the window at the stars as they hurled quickly through space. The spaceship passed several gas giants, which were pretty impressive looking, but it didn't change the fact that he was so bored. He was just about too approach the solar system that Mobius was located in. The only problem was that they had to exit hyperspace since they would risk going past the solar system if they stayed in it any longer, and had to travel in normal space. And Nothost had a considerable lack of patience. He decided to leave his sleeping quarters and go to the bridge. He sat on his throne-like chair and looked on the screen above him. Apparently the ship was approaching an asteroid field that surrounded the inner part of the solar system. Sort of like a belt. Looks like things were getting interesting. This was the biggest asteroid belt he had ever seen; it wouldn't hurt it if it was missing a few asteroids.

"Could you please blow up some of the asteroids for me?"

"Yes sir. Fire lasers now!" A bunch of red lights shot out from the ships, blowing up the nearest asteroids. They burst into pieces, some of the bouncing off the ship's shields harmlessly. Nothost smiled. He loved shooting random things; it always was a treat to watch. This would only last for so long before things got boring again however. A robot servant came onto the bridge and stood in front of Nothost.

"What is it? This better be important; I'm blowing up asteroids here."

"Sir, the Trimax wants a word with you."

"The Trimax wants to talk to me?" The Trimax was an organization of 3 alien races that Nothost often did business with. They usually didn't call him up though, and this was his private channel. What could make them try to contact him on his private channel?

"Very well then, just make sure you don't trash up my ship while I'm away from the bridge." He got up and walked out of the room and down the dimly lit corridor until he came to the elevator. He pushed the button to go to the lowest levels of the ship and a few seconds later, stepped out of the elevator, went past the engineering room, and finally entered his private communications center. He sat down on a chair that was located on the holographic projector and pressed the red button on it. A couple of shadowy figures whose faces were shrouded by cloaks appeared on the screen. The Trimax like to conduct their business as discreetly as possible.

"So what can I do for you on this fine day, my friends?"

"We have a situation over here. And this is something you should be concerned with; it might affect your empire as well as ours."

"What could be so important that it could affect me?"

The cloaked figures sighed. "All the Letches were killed by two of their own cyborgs. By the latest model ones we might add."

"Really, didn't see **that** one coming." Nothost was surprised that it had taken this long for one of their creations to go haywire on them. "So what does this have to do with me?"

"Well for starters; these robots could destroy the planets that you've worked so hard to take control of, which is why you should destroy them as quickly as possible. That brings us to the main reason why we contacted you today. We are offering you a position in the Trimax. Since the Letches were the ones who manufactured robots and other mechanical devices, we're now short on people who can manufacture that kind of stuff. That is where you come in. We want you to rebuild the facilities on the Letch home-world and begin processing machines as soon as possible."

"I have two things that I have to complain about. First, without all the data the Letches possessed, how am I supposed to rebuild their facilities and know what projects they were working on? Second of all, does joining you mean that I have to give up my empire to you or something?"

"No Nothost, you're empire will continue to exist. The only difference is that you'll have our support and our information to act on, so this will actually make it easier for you to conquer other planets with your increased resources. And as for the data, the Letches had the insight to back up all of their data on a system link that connected to our computer mainframes. We're sending the file to your ship computer right now, and just in case something happens to your ship, we are also sending the file to all of the planets that happen to be under your control."

Nothost grinned. This day was just getting better and better for him. "That gives me something to look forward too on the ride back. Thanks a lot. By the way, do you have any idea of the whereabouts of the two robots?"

"We don't know where the female one is at the moment. In a message from the Letches right before they died they did say that they managed to damage here severely. Our guess is that it's trying to repair itself on some remote planet that has a lot of alloys. We're looking for it, but since it has so many cloaking devices on it, it's next to impossible to track it down until it makes a move."

"But you know where the other one is right?"

"It's on a planet called Mobius."

Nothost started laughing. "I don't think this day could get any better. That's where I'm headed right now. I have some business with someone on that planet. I guess I'll take care of the cyborg while I'm there."

"We know you're very powerful Nothost, but you should be careful all the same. One of the beings from this planet took down Black Doom."

"Black Doom was defeated? No wander I haven't been hearing from my old friend. The last time I saw him was when we created the Metarex together. A pity he's dead; he destroyed so many civilizations."

"Oh, and there is one last thing to discuss Nothost. Since you're now a part of the Trimax now, in the future we want you to dress up in a cloak like ours. Our policy is to keep business as discrete as possible when talking with clients."

"Fine, I'll wear the stupid cloak. Just as soon as I have the time to have my servants make one." Nothost shut off the communicator. He couldn't wait to get to Mobius. He pressed a button on the communicator.

"Bridge, this is Nothost. I want you to convert all auxiliary power to the engines; I want to reach Mobius in 10 minutes."

But sir that might cause so much stress that the ship might fall apart."

"Do you think I really care what happens to the ship? I know we haven't tested non-hyperspace travel that much, but I really need to get to Mobius **Now!"**

"Yes sir." The ship blasted towards an unsuspecting planet, which would soon feel the full blunt of Nothost's cruelty.

"_How did he disappear like that? I should have been able to find him after the smoke dissipated, but he just vanished. Cream is going to be disappointed that I wasn't able to bring him back." _So Sonic ran as fast as he could to his house, planning on calling Cream and letting her know what happened when he noticed that one of his windows was broken.

"_Now I have to deal with Burglars to deal with today. This is just great." _Sonic rushed into his house to find some sort of butterfly-like creature waiting for him.

"Who are you?"

"Now's not the time for introductions. This planet is in danger."

"Why should I believe someone who just broke into my house?" Suddenlya huge laser blasted a huge portion of the town away.

"That's why."

"Sir, don't you think we should be sending out a search party instead of randomly firing at stuff?" Thankfully the ship made it to Mobius without anything bad happening. The ship was currently about 6 miles above the surface, firing its lasers at anything resembling a city or town; and anything that moved.

"That will take too long. Besides, if there's one thing about heroes I know, it's that they tend to show up when you get innocent bystanders involved like this. This is mainly a welcome wagon is for that blue hedgehog though; I don't expect the cyborg to show up. He might attempt to leave the planet though, and the moment he tries, he'll have fighters closing in on him from every direction. Now then, take the ship down to an altitude of about 100 feet. I want to see what kind of counterattack these little furballs are capable of." The ship descended quickly, and hovered over the small town it was attacking. Nothost was in high spirits.

"_Looks like Mobius has become the latest addition to my empire. Now hurry up Sonic, I want someone strong to fight me. And if you don't come out soon I'll kill everyone in this village. Then I'll move on to the next. Of course in the end, nothing you can do will save you from me."_

Finally! I've gotten another chapter over and done with. How will Mobius get out of this one? Guess you'll have to read my next chapter to find out. See you around?

Footnotes:

1: Krevax has no idea that everyone on the planet Mobius knows who Sonic is. His home planet didn't have heroes that lived very long see, so a celebrity was a new thing for him.


End file.
